Professional Development sessions. What if they had mandatory lock-downs at the end?
Last night I attended a Social Media program by Jeff Korhan for NSA CT. This morning I did something that most people don’t do after a learning experience……………
I took a RECESS from the list of tasks in front of me and went off into a corner (my favorite corner coffee shop) to debrief/decompress all the dots I connected and started implementing.
To create a better employee experience organizations send people to conferences and learning sessions. Too often nothing is done with the information when the employee gets back to the office. They get excited about what is being offered. The have great conversations with other attendees. There is fun and laughter at the bar in the evening. Then the conference ends and they go back to the office; meaning they go back to tasks, emails that went unanswered, phone calls that went unanswered, unnecessary meetings, strategic vision of the day, and who knows what else.
So what happens to the learning? It goes off on the right (or left side of your desk); you’ll get to it this afternoon. This afternoon becomes tomorrow. Tomorrow becomes your notes end up in a folder; cuz let’s face it, putting it in a folder makes it important. The folder goes home with you on the train or bus, but Facebooking wins out. The kids need some attention at home. The folder goes back to the office with you the next day. The folder goes in a follow-up draw in your desk.
I’ve been to enough professional development conferences where I am the closing session. Send them off with some motivation. Send them off with
some ideas. But imagine if there was a different type of ending…….
Imagine if every conference, meeting, or learning opportunity had a mandatory lock-down for a couple of hours at the end. You couldn’t leave. You had to start taking some steps. It could be facilitated; it could be open space style; or it could be you and another attendee working on a mutual learning. I bet more would get done. I bet one of the great ideas that whirled around in your brain would start to become something bigger. Imagine if your employees came back to the office not only with an idea, but that idea already mapped out for you.
Meeting people is great. Getting out of the office for an evening, day or week is awesome. Turning learning into ROI is a whole different game. The next meeting planner that calls me is going to hear this idea from me; and I won’t charge them for the additional service.
